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REFORM IN CHINA.
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THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
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[February 17, 1900,
THE HONGKONG VOLUNTEERS.
(Daily Press, 15th February.) Ou resuming command of the Hongkong Volunteer Corps, Lieut.-Colonel Sir J. W. CARRINGTON, C. M.G., is naturally much gra- | titied at the great increase in the numbers and efficiency of the Corps which has taken place during his absence.
We take it that the present is an opportune time to ugniu men- tion suggestions which, if carried out, would undoubtedly lead to a stil further increase in numbers and efficiency.
taken during his adolescence to debauch his | Never in the long course of her history has mind and emasculate his, body A sense of n government iù China been able to re- (Daily Press. 12th February).
his responsibilities from some strange quai- generate itself. Her life is gnuglionic A nation, said General GORDON, has the
ter shone in on his benighted mind; the rather than cephalic; cut off the head the government it best deserves. If China sorrows of his country made a deep im fragments continue to lead the same pur were worthy of a good government it would | pression on his mind, and he determined to poseless life as before, but never proceed have it. Such was his deliberate statement take on himself the resuscitation of the | further, and it is not till after wnding for on returning from his last visit to Peking. state. The first necessity was to get rid of years in blood that some individual possessed Despairing of the people and the govern the shameless woman, who was abusing her of more stamina than the rest has pushed ment he had done so much to help, he re- | right as Regent and usurping the prero his way to the front that for a time the But this fused the splendid offers made to him by gatives of the Emperor, and to seek to unwieldy body bestira itself. LI HUNG-CHANG as unworthy of a British purify his own court, which had become a energy lasts only till the temporary, spur officer, and finally fell, the victim of treachery hot-bed of corruption. He unfortunately exhausta itself, when the whole falls back abroad and insincerity at home, with his underrated the difficulties of the task. to its previous condition. The present in face to the enemy at Khartoum. The truth traitor was amongst bis confidants, set there Chinn recalls the past; no man trained of GORDON'S statement has been amply by the Empress Dowager and the intention under the enervating and demoralising justified since GORDON'S farewell to China
was revealed. In a case of this sort the system of government can retain sufficient in 1880. The government which he had Dowager Empress was capable of striking energy to strike out a path for himself. tried to reanimate in 1863-64, had accepted effectually; she anticipated, by a few hours | On the other hand foreign pressure is too indeed the fruits of his campaign a ainst the apparently, the plans of the Emperor, and great and too immediate, and foreign Taiping rebels. According to its lights it
the atter, instead of relegating his adopted | jealousies too strong, to permit an adven- had not been ungrateful to GORDON; it had
aunt to the obscurity she deserved as a turer like CHU YUENCHANG, the founder of regularly paid the troops under his com
slight punishment for her crimes, found the Ming dynasty, carve his way to the Whether throne, so that between the two there is mand while he was at their head, and it himself a close prisoner instead. had offered GORDON a handsome pecuniary KUANGSU's advisers were, or were not cap-httle hope for the restoration of order. reward for his services, which he had in a | able of effecting the reforms in the Court | Still the only possible course for China is to put back her legitimate sovereign, with chivalrous manner, utterly incomprehen- their master had planuel, may be a sible to it, declined. What more could it point. At all events the Dowager's ment the knowledge that his personal rule would
at least be no worse thru the present. do? England had but a few years before
were taken s4 promptly and effec- the movement Was nip- brought the Chinese Government to book tually that
the bud, and the Dowager for a series of outrages, but it had failed to ped "in be consistent, and allowed that government and her party had the inestimable advan- little by little to encroach, and at last, tage of being able to tell their own story afraid of its own work, had decided to prop and put before the Empire a garbled view up by its active assistance that very govern of the affair. This enabled them to enlist ment. It was a course of action extremely on their side the conservatist tendencies of difficult to explain to au Oriental, and es- the people at large, and no action was taken pecially a Chinese government It might through the provinces who sullenly accepted indeed have been made clear had England the position. Still the powerful Yangtze been well represented; but England was Viceroys were by no means satisfied by a not well represented at Peking, and at home change in which they had not been con- she was in the bauds of a school of doctriu- sulted, and took little ¡ains to conceal their naires. GORDON was bu: an emissary of the disapprobation. The very success of the up jealousies British Government; his troops were paid Dowager Empress raised by the Chinese Government, wherein was
amongst her entourage. Li Hung Chang has he better than any other mercenary? What ambitions of bis own, not easily satisfied, and he had done he was doubtless paid for, and was not pleased when he found himself su- the bargain was concluded when he had perseded by men like JuNGLU, Prince CHINO, handed back Soochow to the Futai of the and his own former p ategé, Tuen Shir'ai province. The British Government would The power of intrigue which had made the not have done what it did had it not had its Dowager mistress of the situation did not quid pro quo; its pressing of reforms was its desert her, and quietly and one by one affair, and only a part of its usual policy. places of importance were filled by nonen- Chinese government was good enough for tities who she felt could not afford to act in- China, and if the English wanted better let dependently. CHANGCHITUNG was for the them pay for it themselves. Such ideas moment cajolled. Lur KWEN YIH, waru could have but one result, that of confirm-out by years, was relieved of the cares of ing all the abuses, and the government, office, and KANGYI was sent to exploit the having no head to guide it, instead of taking | provinces and see how far she could press example by what it saw Bound it steadily matters. She found an unexpected power retrograded. The other members of the Re- of yielding, so much that the fixed idea of gency died off, and the present, the youngest, her mind, the final deposition, and final but also the most grasping and avaricious murder of the Emperor were decided on. hung ou. A mere concubine of YIENFUNG, Even the inert mass of the Chinese Empire was for the moment galvanised into what she was utterly without education; but she had those feminine traits, which in all ages looked like opposition. The foreign minis- have marked the favourite of the hateni, ters, or at least those representing the and formed one of the worst characteristics cause of order-Germany, America and of the systeru:
a talent for intrigue and Great Britain, whose services were some
useful when France or
Russia insatiate craving for power, turning in later times years to acquisitiveness of every description, asked a little too much, protested, and when young for jewels, when old for heaping petitions, very humbly worded indeed, but gold. Added to all these an indifference not to be altogether despised came rumbling for others, gradually changing into a love in from the provinces. LI HUNG-CHANG with his characteristic instinct of evasion, would of cruelty for its own sake; and over all an unbridled licenciousness, without even the not declare himself one way or the other, pretence of veil. Such a sovereign was
and for the instant affairs looked black. But these things portend little in China admirably suited by the equally unscru- pulous LI HUNG CHANG, and the mouth of The one-man system introduced in 2,120 by TSIN SHI Hwangi bus had its natural
of permanent Drill Instructor. Beptember, 1898, saw the triumph of the two
The Emperor must either be mɩ Singapore, Shanghai, and other similar in the deposition of the unhappy KUANGSI, effect. Chosen at a tender age t.. sit in the place of autocrat or a cypher, and as few men are organisations are provided for in this re spect, and why should ́H、ngkong be lack- the equally unfortunate TUNG Cat, who capable of acting the former role the m had on arriving at man's estate shown so.ue pire has by degrees in each dynasty fallening? When the numbers were small per- of the independence of character hereditary into the hands of the Mayors of the haps it did not matter much, especially as in his house, careful measures had been Palace, till relief has come from without the Corps has been fortunate enough to
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First and foremost is the need for a Volun- teer Rifle Range ensy of access. Since the revived interest in the Corps set in a grent many members have joined the Rifle Asso- ciation, the latter kindly going out of their way to acilitate this, us the year was draw- ing to a close at the time, by admitting them at much reduced figure. For several months past the rank and file bave fully availed themselves of the Kowloon Range, but its out-of-the-way situation, and the fact that the great accession of members makes it frequently inconveniently crowded, is much felt, and, therefore, a range on this side of the water would be much appreciated, We understand that a site behind the Polu Ground, at Causeway Bay, has already been chosen, and it was at one time anticipated that it would be completed by the beginning of the present year, but we are not aware that a start has yet been made. The im- portance of good shooting has always been recognised, but it needed the 8 ›uth African War to drive it home, and no doubt more attention will be given to this matter in the future than heretoforo. We feel sure the popular Commandant will do all in his power to push forward this long-felt want. The members of the Corps purchase their own ammunition, and are willing to devote the time necessary for practice, and the least the Government can do is to remove every obstacle in the way of their becquing ns efficient as possible in the use of firearins.
There is another point in which the Corps is at a disadvantage, and that is the
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